Episode 11: "Heartful Gaze"

Akari and Hiroyuki are walking down the street to go to school. Fallen leaves on the path make Akari rather romantic, "I love the sound fallen leaves make when we walk on them." But to Hiroyuki, they are just rubbish which have to be cleaned soon or later. Suddenly a voice agrees with him. It is from a man sitting on a bench in the park. But, as he continues, it becomes obvious that he doesn't completely share his opinion with Hiroyuki; "Certainly fallen leaves may make paths look untidy but they may also become nutrients for the new sprouts to come out next spring." He concludes, "There is not a thing in the world which is useless." Then he stands up to "go back."

Multi is mopping the floor in front of her classroom, with a yell as Hiroyuki told. Akari and others are passing by. Shiho wants to know why she is doing it as it is not the cleaning time yet. She is determined to use her last days to keep the school as clean as possible. Akari feels sad about that Multi can stay with them only for two weeks. Shiho has a different opinion; to keep Multi near Hiroyuki, who teaches her a lot of useless things, would not be beneficial at all to potential owners of the maid robots.

At the lunch time, Multi tries to buy some bread at the chaotic shop but gets pushed out yet again. Just when she is about to dive into the crowd, Hiroyuki speaks to her from behind. He hands a bag of bread. Apparently she had tried so many time he could hear what she wanted. But it wasn't his main aim. He asks her if she can spare time for him after school.

After school, Multi comes to the school kitchen with Hiroyuki and Akari. They thought cooking would be a useful thing for her to learn. Akari, a member of the Cooking Club, can teach her. She chose a simple dish; spaghetti and salad. Multi, who even doesn't know the difference between a spoon and a ladle, struggles badly.

Rather bad-looking spaghetti with meat sauce is set before Hiroyuki. Multi is very much disheartened but Akari consoles her. Suddenly Hiroyuki suggests her to go to the downtown together next weekend. Multi, who has never been outside of the lab, is really excited at the idea and accepts it.

The three go downtown accordingly, not only for shopping but having a fun with a lot of things. Watching Multi enjoying herself at the playground, Hiroyuki wonders why such a "human" robot has been created. As a maid robot, one like Serio is far more suitable. But Akari thinks it is not so absurd.

The three come out of a restaurant after the lunch. Of course Multi, who cannot eat, was only watching. A small girl, who has been running around, falls just in front of them. Akari is about to help her but Hiroyuki stops her. He wants to let Multi do the job and she successfully cheers the girl up. Her parents come to the scene and thank Multi.

The three come to the clothing section, where Multi tries new clothes. Akari and Hiroyuki thinks she looks nice in them and buys them for her as a present. Their kindness moves Multi a lot and brings happy tears in her eyes.

On her last day at the school Multi mops the corridor as usual after school. Then she drops in the teachers' office to thank her teacher. At the entrance, she looks at the name tag of her shoe locker for a while and removes it. She walks to the school gate and, just before she reaches it, turns and vows to the school, where she has spent two weeks. She closes her eyes as if she savours every moment of her time at school until the very end.

She finally turns back again and is surprised to see Hiroyuki at the gate. He has come here to hand her "Graduation Certificate". He reads aloud the certificate and gives it to her with "Congratulations, Multi!" She gratefully receives the certificate, issued under the name of Hiroyuki, Akari, Shiho and Masashi, and hugs it affectionately. Sound of hand-clapping surprises her. It is Akari, Shiho and Masashi.

They come with Multi to the bus stop to see her off, where Serio has been waiting. The two robots get in the bus and leave for their "home".

Next day the school is back in its norm but it is now a different place to Hiroyuki. The busy bakery, a girl student mopping the floor, a fallen leave on the ground... many things remind him of the girl who was seen there last week. After the lessons he asks Akari, "If you get married and become a housewife, would you like to have a maid robot?" Akari is negative because she feels as if it will take her role away from her. Yet she would be happy to have someone like Multi; someone who can laugh and cry together with her, just like a sister or chum.

As Hiroyuki walks through the park on his way home, he sees the man again on the bench. He has been giving food to pigeons and notices Hiroyuki. He starts another philosophical conversation with him; "What do you think the difference between a man and a pigeon?" He thinks the difference is minor and changes easily, depending on how you look at it. The same applies to the difference between a man and a machine. A machine is created by man, who is also created by chances, environment and natural selection. Before Hiroyuki can find what to say, he finishes feeding the pigeons and decides to leave. As he walks away, Hiroyuki talks to his back, "Robot or pigeon, as long as it is our friend who can laugh and cry with us, I don't care." The man seems to be pleased to hear his answer and walks away without looking back.

Next morning Shiho catches up with Akari and Hiroyuki on their way to school. She has got news to break; another maid robot is coming to their school today. Akari hopes they can become friends again. She also answers to the question Hiroyuki asked the other day; why a robot like Multi was built. Akari thinks her creators did not want to make a useful robot but a feeling friend. Hiroyuki says nothing but walks ahead, leaving the girls behind.

As they walk to their classroom, Akari says a new robot won't be Multi even if its appearance is the same as hers. Hiroyuki thinks it is how it should be. Surely Multi was happy to complete her mission.

Then the dear old yell of Multi reaches their ear. Seeing them, she stops mopping the floor and greets them. It is the same Multi who has been sent to the school. She was not selected for the commercialisation and sent back to stay in the school until she acquire more proper data. Her "failure" in the selection seems to be the happiest news to Akari and Hiroyuki, as well as to Multi herself.

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